A writer inspired by nature and human nature

HAVE FUN WRITING LIMERICKS

Summertime is fun time! And with ‘back to school’ just around the corner, it’s a great time to write limericks and get the kids writing too…

Whether you’re a writer, a reader, a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give “Limericks” a try. You’ll be glad you did!

Some of my favorite things about summer are butterflies, long lazy summer days, gardens and sunshine. I love to sit on the porch with my camera at the ready just in case I spot an amazing monarch or any of our sensational butterfly friends dropping by to enjoy the view. So far this year I’ve spotted twelve monarchs and dozens of other butterflies too—and managed to capture several of these exquisite creatures with my Canon “PowerShot.”

Butterflies are very sensitive to the environment and with their natural habitat areas being increasingly eroded and with significantly greater use of chemicals, our butterfly population is in decline. Planting and cultivating milkweed (Monarch caterpillars need milkweed) and other blooms that our pollinators need for survival is one way that I can help.

My limerick is about one of the monarch butterflies (captured by my camera) that fluttered through my garden so far this summer. I had fun writing two verses to tell my monarch’s story. Check out the link at the end of the post to find out more about poetic limericks.

A Monarch Butterfly Limerick

by Bette A. Stevens

There once was a monarch so fair

She fluttered and flit through the air

’Twas milkweed she needed

And so she proceeded

To search through the garden with care

Monarch knew she had nothing to fear

Her flutters would soon disappear

When milkweed she spotted

Her heart was besotted

Depositing monarch eggs there

WRITING POETRY WITH CHILDREN

Tips & Tools

When teaching (grades 4-8), I found that writing poems and sharing them was an exciting way get children of all ages hooked on writing. I must admit it—limericks are so much fun to write and to share! In the classroom we learn about using some of the tools in our writer’s tool box—literary devices like assonance (repeating vowel sounds) and consonance (repeating consonant sounds) to create a musical message. And of course, we had Scholastic rhyming dictionaries and thesauruses close at hand. It’s always exciting to discover alternative words (synonyms) that have just the right sounds and syllables to perfect our poems.

Whether you’re a writer, a reader, a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give it a try. You’ll be glad you did!

Perfect limerick.Betty. I am just learning how to do them right, but they are my favorite poetry form–so musical and upbeat–like you:) I got your card and it was lovely–just what I needed today Thank you.

Me too, Marilyn! Swallowtails (three varieties), Checkers, Fritillaries, two that I’ve been unable to identify and more than a dozen of our magnificent Monarchs. I hope we’ll get to spot more of those beauties during migration. Have a lovely week enjoying the wonder of it all! HUGS & LOVE… ❤

Monarchs are truly the royalty of butterflies… Each glorious sighting reminds me how blessed we are by creation. Thanks so much for your lovely review of AMAZING MATILDA; so thrilled that you and Tornado Boy continue to enjoy Matilda’s adventure. May your week be filled with wonders, my friend! ❤ xoxo

Thank you, Balroop. It has been a glorious summer for butterflies of several species for the first time in five years–and what a delight! Sending lots of love and butterfly cheers and smiles your way, dear friend! 🙂 xo

This is great, Bette. You’ve combined two of my favourite things. I love butterflies and I love writing poems with children. Your limericks are wonderful. I like the way they combine the arts and science. They would be great to use with children as a model for their writing.

Thanks so much, Norah. I truly appreciate your thoughtful comments and when teaching, that’s just what I did–modeled writing and reading, using nature as our guide. As lovers of children, of nature and of words, we have much in common, my friend. Your kind words added a rainbow to my cloudy day! Blessings & love. ❤ 🙂 xo

My thoughts are that you are wonderfully talented. I love the limerick, it is perfect. I can’t even remember the last one I have read, and I’m not at all sure I could write one!

I have a request I would like to present to you. If you feel you aren’t interested please just tell me, there will be no hard feelings. I am writing a book and I need someone to critique me. With my last book I was never able to find anyone to do this during the writing. Had I been able to do so I would have been more confident as I would have felt more confident as it went to the publisher. Do you ever do this and if you do tell me how much you charge and how you charge and are you at all interested?

This new book is not any thing I’ve done before. It is a memoir and is being written with an historical co-companion, an absent partner so to speak that is linked in several ways to the story. This ‘partner’ is the history of the period in which the story is written circa 1920 to 1933, at which point the ‘partner’ will take a lesser importance to allow the demonstration of the child’s development. The adult years will then reveal both personality and character in vignette type sketches at major happenings

All three of my books have been spiritual in nature with the third one adding the genre of love which was also new for me. The spiritual tag stayed on it since it refers to the growth of the heroine. I would be happy to send you a free copy and then I could ask you for a review to post on Amazon!

Thanks so much for your lovely compliment and for the invitation to read your book. Currently, I am beta reading for two author friends and am a bit backlogged due to the books I am reading for book club as well. However, please email me at bettestevens@tds.net and send a sample from your book. I’ll take a look and we can go from there. With my own books, I’ve had author friends who were kind enough to read them and give brief critique before hiring a professional editor prior to publishing and found this very helpful.

Also, when it comes to reviewing, I only post short 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for those books I most enjoy.

Thanks for your reply. I understand the life and time factor of being a writer. I appreciate your frankness and I’m a big girl now and can accept whatever your decision might be. I do believe that a professional would spot weaknesses in a manuscript that someone else probably would not, That is why I thought of you, I am not looking for a compliment to make me feel good. I was sure that you would be able to tell me how it is and that is my hope of both receiving or giving a review. I will send a few pages for you and be thankful for whatever you have the time to give me. I will send you a copy of my novelette (110 pages). It could either help or hinder a favorable decision.

Lovely limerick, Bette! You are talented. I will give it a try. I have written a ton of poetry but not exactly in that form. It is a fun way to rhyme. I haven’t seen too many butterflies lately but a lot of dragonflies. I hope they are not going after the butterflies! Hugs & love

Thanks so much for stopping by for a chat, Janice. We’ve had lots of butterflies this year and my butterfly garden is growing and attracting them like a magnet. Even the hummiingbirds love our milkweed. Plenty of dragonflies too, but I think they’re favorite delicacy is mosquitoes and that’s just fine with me… 🙂 Enjoy the rest of our short New England summer and have lots of fun writing your first limerick–they’re addictive! ❤ xo

Thanks so much for stopping by to read and for your gracious comment, Eugenia. It’s been a glorious year for butterflies here in Central Maine this year…seems as though my milkweed is calling them in to visit. Blessings and love! ❤ xo

What a beautiful Limerick, Bette, befitting the lovely Monarch. My flowers attracted lots of butterflies and hummingbirds this year. My perennial garden is just getting started in our new home, but I supplemented it with lots of annuals. What a gorgeous combination they make – butterflies, hummingbirds, and flowers. Love and hugs, dear Bette.

It’s been a glorious year here for blooms, butterflies and all of those wonderful pollinators too. Our gardens, though not manicured, include mostly perennials, annual vegetable varieties, plenty of milkweed and other native species too. Enjoying the wonder of it all and glad to hear that you are too! ❤ xoxoxo…

Thanks, Jill. ❤ A brand new Monarch emerged from the second chrysalis on the porch yesterday–it was amazing to watch it rest, flutter and get strong enough to fly over a two-hour time span. Feeling so blessed that it has been a banner year for these regal beauties here at the farmstead in central Maine. MILKWEED-if you plant it they will come! ❤ So glad you stopped by for a visit. Have an amazing week, my friend. xo